LONDON, April 18 (Reuters) - Britain’s financial markets regulator said on Tuesday it was vital to protect corporate whistleblowers, after it launched a high-profile probe last week into Barclays Chief Executive Jes Staley’s attempts to unmask one inside his own bank.

“We take it very seriously”, Andrew Bailey, Chief Executive of the Financial Conduct Authority, told a news conference in London.

Bailey declined to comment specifically on the Barclays case, but said it was important that whatever is seen in the outside world does not damage the support and protections whistleblowers have. (Reporting by Huw Jones; Writing by Lawrence White; Editing by Mark Potter)